Should Sony Release Less Exclusive Games?

Push Square: "If variety is the spice of life, then the PlayStation 3 is a particularly posh brand of pepper. Arguably more than any other platform holder over the past five years, Sony has provided its system with a stream of high quality content. From big-budget blockbusters like Heavy Rain and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, to smaller endeavours such as Starhawk and Siren: Blood Curse. But with such a vast roster of releases in its catalogue, is the company spreading itself too thin? Indeed, would the Japanese giant be better off focusing on a few tent-pole titles as opposed to such a broad spectrum of content?"
(PS Vita, PS2, PS3, PSP, Sony)

No way. The smartest thing that Sony has done this gen is build up an army of successful first party series like Uncharted, LittleBigPlanet, inFamous, God of War, Killzone, Sly Cooper, Gran Turismo, etc. that not only is the reason why they were able to make the PS3 successful but also is why people are looking forward to the next PlayStation when this gen every third party developer wants to develop on every platform.

We all know third party exclusives are a thing of the past now, but it's the exclusives that ultimately define which console you want to get. Sony keeping it up next gen with all the exclusives will do great things for them next gen

Agreed. If I only played an Infamous, Uncharted, Little Big Planet, Kill zone, God of War, Ratchet n Clank title with a couple AAA 3rd party's in a year I'd be fine. I've gone frm playing tons of meh games to really getting I to the good ones and playing the hell out of them as a gamer. Quality over quantity.

We all want as many games to choose from as possible but those resources need to be funded somehow. When you spread yourself thin then certain games will get lost. We all know The Last of Us will get a ton of attention but that's offset by other games that don't get near the amount of attention. People paid good money for games like Twisted Metal but if those games don't get the support the online could be pulled or the support for new DLC or balance issues might not be there. I used Twisted Metal just as an example hypothetically.

I don't want to see companies run like Activision where they put most of their resources into one franchise and bleed it dry. I think Microsoft is doing the same with Halo and Forza. There are signs of Sony doing this as well with games like God of War. It all rests on the shoulders of consumers. If they don't buy unique games like Beyond and just want to keep buying Gran Turismo and God of War instead what do you expect? Sony can only keep taking so many chances before they too just focus on proven franchises. I wouldn't want to see that happen but that's the frailty of this business.

I agree they should keep bringing they out but at least space out the launch dates. Some of their games will come out within a week of each other and the big name title will take sales from lesser title.

Funny how before it was "the PS3 has no games, Sony needs to release more exclusives." Now people are starting to question if Sony releases to many, lol.

Sony should keep doing what they are doing. The reason why people keep saying that Sony should release less games is because they assume that every single one of them costs tens of millions dollars to make. If releasing so much games was really hurting their bottom dollar they would have slowed down production/releases long ago.

Well they actually did say that releasing so many games stretches their bottom marketing and ad focus. This could be the reason why so many folks here on N4G keep going to the "Sony doens't market enough" line.

Which I don't think is true since I see a lot of ads for Sony not to mention their Kevin campaign not too long ago. But it has been quoted.

And the reason "people" (people meaning N4G) are saying this is because a lot of their games are not appealing to the mass audience. Some of the titles may not cost tens of millions, but I'm sure they are in the million range and a million loss is still a million loss.

I wasn't talking about marketing. I was talking about people saying Sony can't afford to release too many games.

With that said, I don't recall seeing a Twisted Metal ad, nor a Starhawk ad, nor a Sorcery ad. I have seen ads for recent titles such as Battle Royale, LPK, and WonderBook however and not mention 3rd party games such as Need For Speed and Assassin's Creed III. I personally think that when Sony does actually advertize they should show actual gameplay. The Battle Royale ads I've seen have no gameplay in it whatsoever leaving the clueless wondering what the game is about.

***"And the reason "people" (people meaning N4G) are saying this is because a lot of their games are not appealing to the mass audience. Some of the titles may not cost tens of millions, but I'm sure they are in the million range and a million loss is still a million loss."***

If they aren't appealing to the masses then why should one expect the game to sell high amounts anyway? I don't think any game released this year for Sony was of high budget.

That is the way the modern gamer community is. They are confused. They complained about how few games PS3 had and harped on about how the 'PS3 haz no games'. Now that they went all out to prove that they can make a huge enough line up it's 'Sony could you make less games?'. Gamers,especially Sony gamers really don't know what they want.They are not happy unless they are complaining about something. They would prefer that Sony make less games to force you into buying those rather then giving you a wide selection.Look how antsy everyone got because most of Sony's best games are coming out next year.

"Gamers,especially Sony gamers really don't know what they want.They are not happy unless they are complaining about something. They would prefer that Sony make less games to force you into buying those rather then giving you a wide selection."

What in blue blazes are you talking about? Especially Sony gamers? I don't think so.

PrototypeKnucklesYour joke is meaningless considering Gears and Halo both outsell any Sony exclusive by themselves. Your attempt was an EPIC FAIL. Do your research first. It took Halo 4 less than a month to sell 4M. Halo franchise in itself has sold 50M. Please lets not go there. You can put all PS3 exclusives together and they will NEVER reach that number. I love PS3, but now your talking reckless and looking like a clown

In short -no. Sony Exclusives = Sony Exclusivity. The quality; the array of games speak for themselves, which simply make the console a more sought after commodity to those who seek out such attributes.

KILLZONE 4 has a lot of option to be a amazing game specially in a new tech the PS4 but I will love to see first two games in a row for GG new IP and then KILLZONE 4 or maybe the new IP first KILLZONE 4 and fallow part two of the new IP maybe 3 games in 5 years will be ideal since it will take time to build and perfect the new engine(since GG now has two teams I will like GG to make a new Socom since they did nam 67' which is similar to Socom)

ND should do the same with TLOU continue the IP on the PS4 and maybe be a old IP remake (a new uncharted, SF, Socom"sony does really need to bring back socom back to glory") they should and also make 3 game sin 5 years.

Siren for the ps4 and let this same studio do a next gen extermination game, i don't understand how nobody or even sony have not thought about this great IP they own, and this japon studio is talented they should be working on this ips, they will sale good enough and maybe also give this studio Demon Souls XD ..

Give insomniac a chance to create a new IP? (or Resistance 4 only if they go to modern times) one every two and a half years and make sure it does not coincide with the same year that KILLZONE comes out. let them do a R&C but not as many as they did this gen it's annoying to see such a great devs waste time in that IP for kids no offence i know people love it but come on maybe one every 3 years is enough.

MotorStorm should be more real and xtream and less cartoon-ish. a game every two years should be good for racing games.

Santa Monica should keep doing GOW they are the best at that and maybe try a new IP?(they have two teams now!) and keep doing what they did this gen help other devs to make the games. (a game every two years to will be good enough from this team.

David Jeff should keep is mouth shut and create a new IP and be more humble (this guy do need this a lot) and if he fail to impress she should retired or make psn games.

Starhawk devs for me just suck at gameplay controls, their game feel cheap and arcade.I don't understand how some people say they are fun but let's be honest they are bad at it they have no ideas and their game are just fun for the few, some may hate me but its the true. They should be used to helps other devs in their multiplayer codes since that what they are good at.

MM go back to LBP in next gen. and create two new original IPs after that.

GT6 should have all cars premium no excuse on having cheap low res unfinished cars. 3 games prologe, gt6 and gt6 full speed or something like that.

Sucker Punch should create a new IP i will love that, inF was great but it's done, new IP from them is needed super powers open world like infamous but more wild original and exotic.. and create 2 games in 5 years.

Sony should absolutely make as many exclusive games as possible. If they relied more on 3rd party games they'd be farther behind Xbox than then already are. Third party games most always look, play, and perform better on the Xbox 360. Exclusives, however, help to mask the short coming of the ps3's miniscule ram and paltry rsx chip by being developed with the strenghts of the the ps3 soley in mine and not having to worry about trying to keep up with pc or Xbox 360 levels of fidelity. They'd better keep on making them exclusives for sure. I personally can't wait for the last of us. I'm really excited about that.

Yeah, their best games don't really get shoved in your face enough. I mean, they advertised the crap out of uncharted 3, but in the same year, resistance 3 (probably my favourite in the series) got hardly any attention, and as a result, sold poorly.

But as the article discusses, they only have so much money they can spend on marketing. While the likes of Microsoft can spend ALL of that money on a single game like Halo 4, Sony simply has too many games to promote in the same way.

As such, I believe the sheer number of releases are what hurts the advertising in the long run.

@ Alos88 you completely missed the point. It's not about how many games they have, it's about how much money sony can spend on advertising. You guys complain about Sony not advertising but even when the games don't sell well you'd rather have Sony keep pumping out exclusives rather than have common business sense.

Normally I would agree, but Sony did a FANTASTIC job with the Kevin Butler series. While not every ad was exactly memorable (or even did a great job promoting the game...), they did a spot for virtually every first party game coming out that year. I would say the issue isn't advertising, but getting their message across...

As I mentioned above, the Kevin spots were numerous, but didn't exactly sell the product. I would suspect the average person saw the jokes and missed the point. I believe other games like All-Stars falls in the same category, since the ads are well done, though they don't really get the SALE needed. If Sony could find a middle ground between getting the point across and having fun (since they really do some fun ads), I believe we would see more sales across the board.

Yeah, they need them to keep profits up. Sony needed it from first party titles due to less 3rd party sales this gen.

Next gen, it's going to be even harsher (for MS too, but they have people paying for P2P multiplayer...). They will have to keep up the same tactic, which is bringing us brilliant games so that's good. Once they take a look at 3rd party sales on the PS4, they would make less exclusives if that meant more profit (doubtful). I'm guessing next-gen consoles will be sold at quite a hefty loss to Sony/MS per unit if they want the performance to hold up for years. That means they'll need a certain number of new game sales or other purchases from each console owner to get back into profit territory, without huge 3rd party sales - that has to be done with great 1st party titles (more profit in them overall, vertical expansion in the business etc.)

With their current financial situation advertising games is not on the highest 'to do' list unfortunately. So Sony is hoping that 'word of mouth' from the millions of Playstation fans eleviate much of the burden.

Hopefully as things get better within Sony that they will advertise the way they use to in the past.

(not sure what you're on about but) MGS4 was a decent system seller. GT5 was bought by many but by then, the PS3 had already made significant headway and a lot of first party games were out by then (a spectrum of games, so there's something for everyone).

If you look back at the PS2 and the exclusivity of FF combined with earlier launches of GTA... they were big sellers but the PS2 was popular because of the brand and launch timing. They _would_ have been massive system sellers this gen if they were Sony exclusive though, but the publishers aimed for multiplat to access the most customers, they don't do Sony's bidding (hence Sony's efforts on first party games in the 2nd half of this gen)

I'd be inclined to agree, but I don't think they're releasing too much. The "problem" is that they have a lot of first party studios and they all need to release games to stay in business. So when they all release a game every year or two, it definitely seems like a lot. I can't see the exclusive releases slowing down.

But without them, editors wouldn't exist. Without them, incompetent journalists would be able to get away with English mistakes, the subject they most likely majored in. (I'm not saying this author is incompetent. Just others)

Fair enough ExCest if you get paid to do so and it actually means something other then just sounding like a tool then i'm okay with that. its the ones who get nothing from it and waste a post on it and contribute nothing that need to get a life and their head checked.

I would like even more. I would not say no to having more exclusives. However, I think they need to focus on maintaining a certain quality. Many PS exclusives are excellent and they are the reason that my PS3 is my primary console. I don't really think that "quantity" is more important than "quality". Sony are somewhat consistent with their quality, but there is no denying that quite a few exclusives have failed to hit their full potential.

We needed the poor exclusives like Socom 4 to have packed a punch and been fantastic.

I want double the exclusives from the PS1/2 era; I know with current costs there's only so much they can do, but I miss the days of seeing more exclusives to keep me occupied for months before even thinking of buying another game.

unless..you got a long gaming night ahead of you because of all those sweet playstation exclusives..then by all means batton down the hatches and proceed with all the booger sugar your nostrils can hold..

Fable: The Journey estimates are only 100,000 on vgchartz. Fable is one of MS' TOP franchises beside Gears/Halo/Forza. Sorcery is a new IP yet still sold more than Fable: The Journey with estimates at 140,000 despite a smaller PS Move install base. Even the beleagured Starhawk almost doubled it in sales.

What about the Witcher 2 on 360? A console exclusive and one of the highest rated this year that only sold 560,000 according to estimates. Twisted Metal, a niche car combat game sold more, at 580,000.

PS All Stars has only been out for like 2 weeks. It doesn't even belong in this conversation.

Forza Horizons does though, and at only 740,000 for MS' #3 franchise, that's nothing to write home about. GT5 alone has sold more than the last three Forza games combined.

Keep the exclusives coming I say. Fact is they do better than people care to admit.

Sony's next year PS3 lineup looks spot-on: - begins modestly with Sly 4 in February, - followed by God of War in March, - and then the culmination of Sony's 1st part awesomeness: The Last of Us in May, I'd assume Beyond and Puppeteer are slated for after the summer break - fall or winter 2013

I don't even have to read this one... what an idiotic question. Sure Sony has it's share of less than popular exclusives & undeniably slow, money wasting studios but they bring a TON of great IPs to the table that cater to their fans. Some of which define Playstation and TONS of which have defined Playstations each generation ever since inception....

I'm all for quality over quantity. Sony has exclusives that me personally am not interested in.

But this doesn't mean that they should stop because my interests are not someone else's. But they should defintiely consider to stop making some exclusives that don't sell as well as they hoped for. Maybe shelve them for the time being, then later on create a buzz or teases of an IP returning and gauge the public interests, then drop it on the public if the response is positive.

But I am all for some more Siren which has become my Silent Hill 2 of survival horror games. Such a good game. Love the episode format in games like Walking Dead. Even Alan Wake and a similar concept.

Edit: Also the lame excuse of Sony not promoting is .. well ... lame. Sony does promote well enough, it may not be closing down Time Square type of promotion but it is there well enough. I agree with AdmiralVic above, people here on N4G magically seem to forget all the Kevin Butler, (Marcus *cough*) and even the third party promos.

In my opinion it wouldn't hurt to scrap a couple of the lesser games per year and put that money into actually advertising some of the other exclusives. As it is you have a ton of great games that nobody even knows exists! Sony has to keep in mind that it's actually a very small minority of gamers that use online forums and places like N4G to get gaming news.

I like that they take risks, but some games just get zero publicity and that boggles my mind. Resistance 3 and Starhawk are two examples of (what I thought) were GREAT games that got absolutely no love.

I understand that a certain Sony demographic likes the idea of Sony having so many exclusives, but if those people just enjoy the idea of exclusives and they aren't actually buying, and Sony isn't advertising, that ends badly for all parties involved. We've seen some really good developers close down over the past year because of issues like that.

I'm amazed on how gamers rather have sony advertise more one IP instead of investment on a game. Look I love most sonys games, lbp, gt, siren, killzone, resistance, socom, uncharted.. But star hawk was lame, there are to many ranched and clarks ..

I'm upset on how sony dare to stop making socom games its a shame, if they really love their gamers they will have not and just hope they rethinking this stupid decision abd give socom a actual good budget and enough time to be a quality game.

Here's the problem with Sony's Studios:SONY has a lot. However, they NEED to make money. Hence the quality may not be up to the standard to the likes of ND or SSM. Not every exclusive has a AAA backing behind it. Sadly, these games may take the hit the most and suffer due to the disparaging quality difference to 3rd party studios but SONY's very own exclusives.

Best bet is that they have to make games for the Vita since it is less competitive and does not take a lot of resources to develop for. OR, they have to combine teams to make AAA games instead of A or AA budgeted games that may not perform so well.

Can you imagine if Sony only made Uncharted,Killzone, GT and a handful of decent to mediocre titles like MS does with it's lineup? We'd have have at least 5 Killzones and a remake, 4 Gran Turismos, 4 Uncharteds, all on a single console in a span of 6 years.